Ghoshal, Tanuka

Tanuka Ghoshal is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Indian School of Business and teaches the courses Consumer Behavior and Marketing Communications Strategy in the PGP program. She serves as the Chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at ISB, and heads the Behavioral Lab. Prior to joining the ISB she obtained her Ph.D. in Marketing from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, following a 3-year stint at the Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB). Professor Ghoshal’s research interests lie broadly in the domain of hedonic and sensory experiences in consumer judgment and decision-making. Her work has been published or is forthcoming at the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Her ongoing projects involve studying compensatory consumption, product design, and consumer behavior in the Indian context. Her research on sensory consumption won a grant from the Ernst & Young Institute for Emerging Market Studies in 2015-16. Professor Ghoshal is an active member of international academic societies such as Association of Consumer Research, Society for Consumer Psychology, Consumer Culture Theory Consortium and INFORMS Marketing Science, and regularly presents her research at their flagship annual conferences in North America and Europe.

Published Papers

Batra, Rishtee Kumar.,Ghoshal, Tanuka.,Raghunathan, Raj. (Forthcoming) "You Are What You Eat: An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Spicy Food and Aggressive Cognition", Journal of Experimental Social PsychologyRead Abstract >Close >The popular saying “you are what you eat” suggests that people take on the characteristics of the food they eat. Wisdom from ancient texts and practitioners of alternative medicine seem to share the intuition that consuming spicy food may increase aggression. However, this relationship has not been empirically tested. In this research, we posit that those who consume “hot” and “spicy” food may be more prone to thoughts related to aggression. Across three studies, we find evidence for this proposition. Study 1 reveals that those who typically consume spicy food exhibit higher levels of trait aggression. Studies 2 and 3 reveal, respectively, that consumption of, and even mere exposure to spicy food, can semantically activate concepts related to aggression as well as lead to higher levels of perceived aggressive intent in others. Our work contributes to the literature on precursors of aggression, and has substantive implications for several stakeholders, including marketers, parents and policy makers.

Batra, Rishtee Kumar.,Ghoshal, Tanuka. (Forthcoming) "Fill Up Your Senses: A Theory of Self-Worth Restoration through High Intensity Sensory Consumption", Journal of Consumer ResearchRead Abstract >Close >It is well known that individuals engage in reactive consumption to address self-discrepancy and self-threat and that this consumption may be either symbolically related to the nature of the threat or may occur in an unrelated domain. This research proposes a theory for self-worth restoration through the consumption of high intensity sensory stimuli. Four studies demonstrate that not only do individuals facing self-threat prefer high intensity sensory consumption (HISC) but also this consumption restores their self-worth. This propensity for HISC is negated after individuals are allowed to engage in additional self-affirmation tasks. The findings are documented in both the visual domain (as evidenced by a preference for more intense and saturated colors) and the auditory domain (as evidenced by a preference for louder audio levels). The consumption of high intensity sensory stimuli elevates individuals’ arousal levels, which in turn minimizes rumination on thoughts related to the threat and thus restores one’s self-worth. The distractive nature of HISC and its subsequent impact on self-worth restoration is shown to operate regardless of the valence of the sensory consumption. Finally, the propensity for HISC is negated after individuals experience an arousal-elevating threat, providing additional support for the underlying process.

Ghoshal, Tanuka.,Yorkston, Eric.,Nunes, Joseph.,Boatwright, Peter. (2014) "Multiple Reference Points in Sequential Hedonic Evaluation: An Empirical Analysis", Journal of Marketing ResearchRead Abstract >Close >Marketers frequently offer a variety of communications, brands, and service encounters that customers evaluate sequentially. When customers make these evaluations, their earlier experiences in the sequence influence their current evaluation. We propose that these prior experiences serve as multiple reference points against which the target stimulus is judged, creating rival co-occurring comparison effects. Using real world and experimental data, we find assimilation and contrast effects occurring simultaneously: assimilation to the first score within a sequence and contrast to the immediate predecessor as well as to extremes experienced earlier in the sequence. We document the moderating effects of extreme first stimuli, domain similarity, and individual factors of mood and expertise. We provide different recommendations for sequence construction based upon whether the marketer’s goal is fairness, accuracy, or influencing choice. Our research is unique in showing how several preceding evaluations can each have an impact on a subsequent evaluation at the same time and the utilization of real world data to do this.

Books and Monographs

Ghoshal, Tanuka.,Boatwright, Peter.,Malka, Malika. "Curvature from all angles: An integrative Review and Implications for Product Design", Routledge, 2015Read Description >Close >In this article, we isolate one component of product design- shape, specifically angularity or curvature (these terms will be used interchangeably throughout the article), and review literature from various domains on this aspect. In an original study, we investigate whether people have preferences for either angular or curved products for different categories for which shape is unrelated to functionality, and also measure perceived functional and hedonic benefits. We find that angular contours positively impact perceived functionality, with some exceptions, while curved contours positively impact perceived hedonic attributes of the product across almost all categories. The impact of angularity or curvature is moderated by individual differences such as need for cognition and involvement with the category. We integrate our findings within the extant literature and discuss implications for product design and provide directions for future research on design theory.